PRESS RELEASE Biakato Trial: Heavy sentences for war crimes in the context of the fight against Ebola in Ituri
November 10, 2020 On 10 November 2020, the Biakato trial came to an end, with the pronouncement of heavy sentences by the Ituri Garrison Military Court against defendants found guilty of war crimes. The verdict also brings justice to the victims who are granted reparations for murder, looting, burning and destruction of property. Life sentences were pronounced against defendants, convicted of war crimes of murder, arson, destruction of property and infliction of severe suffering on the victims. Four of the accused were acquitted. Most importantly, most of the 34 civil parties' claims for reparations were granted, both for the murder of their relatives and the destruction of their property. However, it is regrettable that the Ituri Garrison Military Court did not follow up on the civil parties' request to cite the Democratic Republic of Congo as civilly responsible on the grounds that the time limit for service was not respected, but also that all the defendants were members of Mai-Mai armed groups and thus the DRC were not responsible for them. We call for the decision to be enforced, for the victims to obtain the reparations to which they are entitled and for security and peace to be restored in Biakato and Lwemba to enable the victims to return to their homes. CONTEXT From January to November 2019, more than 300 cases of attacks involving Mai-Mai militia and Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC) soldiers from the 31st Brigade, based in Mambasa, were identified. These attacks took place in several localities and villages in the chiefdom of Babila Babombi, including in the village of Ndungo (40 kilometres south of Biakato) between 16 and 28 October 2019. Mai-Mai militiamen equipped with machetes, war ammunition and bullet-proof vests were apprehended before being brought before the detached military prosecutor's office in Mambasa. These attacks mainly targeted the civilian population, as well as the health and material structures deployed in the fight against the Ebola disease. These attacks followed the death, at the Mangina treatment centre, of a nurse who was openly hostile to any interventi on to combat the virus. The Mai-Mai militias it as a conspiracy being set up by the supporters of a strong response against Ebola. On 25 September 2019, in Lwemba, four health posts and more than twenty-five houses were burnt down by Mai-Mai militiamen to avenge the death of the nurse. On 16 October 2019, a